[Elecraft] KX1 Info?

[Don Wilhelm]

Steve,

Certainly, buy one!!! It will be a great portable transceiver for you.

I do feel I should comment on your statement regarding the need for an
antenna tuner - my answer is yes it is needed, especially if you are
operating with an antenna that is 'just put up' as in a portable
environment.  If you will always operate with pre-tuned antennas that show a
transmitter feedpoint impedance of 50 ohms, the tuner would not be needed.

There is no 'antenna tuner' in the world that will change the
characteristics of the antenna itself (unless it actually changes the
physical/electrical lengths of the radiator itself).  So ALL antenna tuners
"fool" the transceiver if you prefer to look at it that way.

An 'antenna tuner' does provide a means of assuring that the transmitter
will provide full output, and all that power (less antenna system losses)
will be radiated as RF. - the losses are radiated too, but that energy goes
into heating the feedline, the ground, or resistive connections in the
antenna system - yes, even a dummy load radiates, just not RF - but I
digress.

The role of any antenna tuner is impedance transformation - it will be some
sort of 4 terminal network that has one impedance on the output side and
another on the input side - that is all any antenna tuner does, although
such a network may take many different forms:
Balanced, unbalanced, or a combination of both, any number of tuned circuit
combinations, or it may be as simple as a length of transmission line
(itself having a particular characteristic impedance).

73,
Don W3FPR

----- Original Message ----- 

| I for one would love to get more info on the KX-1.  I almost bought one
just
| on the basis of the ad in World Radio, but I came to my senses (for a
couple
| of minutes, anyway).
|
| 1) Estimated assembly time?
| 2) Is an antenna tuner really necessary when output power is only 4 watts?
| Since tuners only "fool" the transceiver and don't really change the
| characteristics of the antenna, I'm curious whether the finals can be
| damaged or the output power decreased by the voltages present at this
small
| power output.
|
| That's about it, really.  Other than those questions I'M READY TO ORDER
| ONE!!!! :-)
|
|